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This is the final edition of this story, because I would no longer call Alan’s business a start-up.

Here are some of Alan’s own observations of his first year:

1. I found it a year of finding my feet and working out what I needed to do
2. As you have stated, it was a year of 'Building the Foundations'
3. Moving on from a full time job and into a private contracting/consulting role was a decent step and change that needed getting use to
4. I managed to get my business ‘out there' into the market, with still a lot of work to be done
5. I felt there were inefficiencies and things seemed to happen slowly, mainly because I was working out and discovering what needed to be done
6. Learnt a heck of a lot about marketing and sales!
7. Managed to knock back some very good full time roles, which reaffirmed by commitment to my business.
8. Have a graduate helping out with smaller projects and tendering of works
9. Won a decent project in [redacted] which I am still working on
10. Submitted a number of tenders
11. Identified a number of areas for potential work: [redacted]
12. Nurtured industry contacts
13. Developed the basis of a good database
14. Worked on my brand, website SEO
15. Got stuck into cold calling and networking
16. Got sucked in and departed with monies with salesman promising the world!
17. And Heaps Heaps more!...

I see Year 2 as building on the first year and generating much more action and activity.

The reason I say Alan has graduated from the start-up phase, is he no longer fears that his business will fail. He ‘gets it’. That does not mean that the continuing journey will be easy, or that he has nothing to learn.

We all are on a journey in business. We need to understand the Business Lifecycle, and where we are in that cycle

Congratulations Alan, on your achievement. Now you have Adolescence to look forward to, and we all remember the joys of that period of our lives!